A 22-year-old Litchfield man is in custody today, charged with shooting a Manchester police officer in New Hampshire’s largest city Wednesday night, officials said.

The motive for the shooting was not released by authorities, nor would they discuss what led them to charge Myles Webster for repeatedly shooting the still-unidentified officer in the city’s West Side.

The unidentified officer was responding to an incident on the west side of the city at about 6:30 p.m. when he was shot, Manchester police said.

Jeffery A. Strelzin, senior assistant attorney general in New Hampshire and chief of the AG’s homicide unit, said the shooting occurred in the area of Wayne and Putnam streets but he would not provide details. He said the incident took place “over a substantial distance,” but he would not elaborate.

Strelzin did not identify the officer, his age, or say how long he has served on the force.

Massachusetts State Police were on the lookout Wednesday night for a light-colored, possibly teal, Hyundai Sonata in connection with shooting, according to spokesman David Procopio. He said that advisory remained active as of about 11:20 p.m. Wednesday.

Procopio said the vehicle had a partial license plate of 314 and that any occupants should be considered armed and dangerous.

Near the scene of the shooting, authorities had blocked off a large area of the residential neighborhood, which features many triple-decker homes, with yellow caution tape and white wooden police barriers. About 15 onlookers were huddled in small groups at the edge of the cordoned-off zone.

In 2008, a reputed former leader of a Roxbury street gang was convicted of fatally shooting Manchester police officer Michael Briggs two years earlier.

The defendant, Michael Addison, is on death row and will be the first person to be executed in New Hampshire since 1939 if his sentence is upheld.

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